The Monster Within: Interludes 2
by Natasha210
Summary: Jennifer moved into Avengers Tower. Tony has a special surprise to make her feel a little more at home. A late night in the tower lead to Jennifer and Steve have their first true conversation since the downfall of S.H.I.E.L.D. Jennifer has to decide how much she is will to tell Steve. Set after The Winter Soldier and before Age of Ultron.
1. Tony

Jennifer walked into the main living area of Avengers Tower. Toney had given everyone in the team their own floor in his building. After the fall of S.H.I.E.L.D. Jennifer, Natasha, and Steve found themselves out of a job and homeless. So, they found themselves taking up his offer to let them live with him. The others treated it more as a place to pass through. If she was honest, Jennifer had a feeling Natasha would end up more like that. Tony was standing in the kitchen drinking a cup of coffee. Jennifer walked over to him sitting at one of the bar stools.

"That better be decaf." She laughed knowing that it probably wasn't.

"Listen if you're going to live here you better follow my rules. Rule number one you are not allowed to comment on my coffee." Tony said then took a large sip out of the mug. Jennifer held up her hands.

"Very well it's not like I'm a doctor or anything." Jennifer looked down at her hand; her ring was gone. She had to get rid of it during the fall of S.H.E.I.L.D. in case they put a tracker in it.

"On a happier note are you all moved in Pepper wanted to make sure you felt welcome." Jennifer had met Pepper a few times she seemed nice, and Tony adored her even if he had a strange way of showing it.

"Yeah, it didn't take long considering that Steve crashed a ship into the building where I lived. Destroying all my things." Tony shook his head.

"That Rogers does understand how to do anything delicately." Jennifer smiled at his comment.

"True but he is better at it than Thor." Tony snapped his finger pointing at her.

"You have a point. Did you lose anything valuable?" Jennifer snorted slightly then blushed not meaning to make that noise.

"Tony my life is so classified I don't even have a picture apart from the ones that the papers get." Jennifer's phone went off. She looked at it standing up.

"Natasha want some help with something. Meaning she wants me to finish moving her in so she can go to the gym." She explained before heading out of the room.

Jennifer stepped off the elevator on to her floor 3 hours later. She rubbed her back. Natasha had, in fact, wanted to practice with her. In the process, Jennifer was reminded that she would never be as good at fighting as Natasha. She set her things down before heading for her room. Something in her sitting room, however, caught her eye. Pepper had seen to it that Jennifer's room looked as far from a lab as possible picking warm colors and soft fabrics to fill the room. Jennifer didn't mind it reminded her of a life that might have been. However, that was not what had caught her eye. What had caught her eye was the large picture of her parents hanging on the wall. It was a canvas print that hung above her couch. Jennifer stared at that picture. She didn't remember it being taken. Their faces familiar but no true memories still lingered in her mind of them. The room had blocked most of them out. Looking around she started to notice the other pictures that filled the room. They were of her and the Avengers. She shook her head fighting back the tears.

"Do you like it." Jennifer turned to find Tony standing by the elevator. Jennifer ran over to him giving him a hug.

"How did you get that picture. Fury said that they were all destroyed." Tony looked down at his hands.

"I had to digitally make it Jennifer. I used an algorithm to determine what your parents looked like and piece it together with the information in your file." Jennifer gave a small nod.

"That makes more sense." Tony looked at her growing stiff. As if bracing for something.

"Are you mad I can take it away." Jennifer shook her head walking him over to the picture.

"I have no true memory of what my parents look like. If this is the closest, I can ever get to seeing them then it's good enough for me." She pointed at all the other picture. "Now where did you get those." Tony waved his hands.

"That was easy. I had Jarvis pull them up." Jennifer nodded picking up a picture of her and Clint.

"Thanks, Tony you didn't have to do this." Tony waved off her thanks.

"Sure, I did we're friends." Jennifer smiled at the words.

"Yes…yes we are."


	2. Steve

Jennifer sat on the counter of the large kitchen island eating ice cream in the Avenger tower. It had been a few months since she first moved into the building. The room was lit only by the small lamp next to the coffee maker. She had a long day, and ice cream was her weakness. She usually wouldn't eat another Avenger's food without asking, but that went out the window at the sight of Chocolate Chip ice cream. She looked down at her ankle adjusting the ice pack. It wasn't doing much since it had melted, but she didn't have the energy to get another one. She had landed hard in one of the training exercises that day. She had done her best to hide it, and a few hours later she was regretting it. Looking over at the clock she shook her head. It was 2 AM she should be in bed. Usually, when she couldn't sleep, she would run, but that wasn't an option tonight. Granted the ice cream probably wasn't helping. The main kitchen light turned on causing her to squint. Jennifer glanced up seeing Steve standing in the doorway. He had on PJs and his hair disheveled. Steve seemed surprised to see her.

"Jennifer, what are you doing up?" He asked Jennifer gestured to the ice cream.

"What about you?" She asked around a mouthful of ice cream causing him to laugh.

"I thought I heard a noise. Must have been the refrigerator Ghost" Jennifer moved to get off the counter. However, the movement sent pain up her leg. She closed her eyes letting out a slow breath. Steve walked over to the freezer pulling out a fresh ice pack. She reached over to take it, but he held up his hand.

"Jen, let me help you." Jennifer clamped her mouth shut. Steve hadn't used the nickname since the bunker. She watched as he delicately removed the ice pack revealing the large bruise. He looked up at her. "Jen, did you do this today?" She nodded not knowing what to say. "Why didn't you say something?" Jennifer swallowed the large mouth full of ice cream causing a slight brain freeze.

"It's not broken just a small sprain. So, I figured I would ice it and take the day off tomorrow." Steve shook his head placing the new ice pack gently on her ankle.

"The thing about being a team is that you need to be able to let us help you." He reached into a drawer and pulled out a spoon. "Now are you going to share some of my ice cream with me." Jennifer smiled handing the container over.

"Fine." She said in mocked annoyance causing him to laugh. The movement, however, caused the sleeve of her shirt to pull up revealing a scar on her wrist. Steve tried not to stare, but he had no idea she had an injury like that. Jennifer was often rubbing her wrists, but he didn't expect this. Noticing his gaze, she quickly pulled the sleeve down and wrapped her arms around her body closing herself off. Steve took a spoon full of ice cream and handed it back to her.

"Don't feel like you have to hide from me, Jen." He said pointing at her arms. She slowly took the ice cream back grabbing a spoon full. "Like I said we're a team." She looked at him for a moment before taking a bite.

"Sorry, I'm just not ready to share that reminder." She said her cheeks growing red.

"Don't worry about it Jen you have all the time in the world. Just know that I'm…the teams here if you need someone."


End file.
